Teen Vogue thinks librarians, not parents, should make decisions for children
June 7, 2023
Teen Vogue gives us an idea that is so objectionable that we want to splutter in rage rather than address it. It’s also something hugely common in this modern world of ours and needs to be opposed precisely because of its commonality.
When discussing book bans and the like, a librarian says, “In an ideal world, she argues, librarians would be the ones to discern what is appropriate for children of a certain age to read, rather than the government.” Absolutely no, no way, and thrice not. That is to pass the raising of our children over to the self-appointed experts rather than doing what free people do, which is raise ours our way.
Of course, the government should not be telling us what our children may be reading or not. What government takes from us in taxes and how that money is then spent – sure, it’s a communal activity, and we all get a say in how that works. That’s called democracy. So, yes, through the government, we get to say what kids aren’t taught in school.
But this claim here is that this particular group of people, librarians, should determine what our children read. We should pay them, shut up and let them get on with it. Like, you know, perhaps we should just shut up about how sex is taught in schools? Or where buildings may be put, zoning. Or, in the way that’s being said, we should live in whatever gets assigned to us, for what do we know about how we should live?
That is, this attitude is a part of that progressive state. We, the people, don’t get to decide; we should do whatever we’re told by the “experts.” The folks who’ve been to college should tell us what to eat, when, how to travel (public transport!), and all the rest of the things that the modern bureaucracy does try to force upon us. Drug addicts should live in the main square because that’s what the experts say. On and on this goes, and that’s not how free people live.
Sure, we need experts at times. None of us would be happy at having to work out the water and waste system from first principles. But there’s a difference between the statement “This is how to reach your goal” and the experts moving over into “I will determine the outcome.”
Librarians are doing the scut work of checking in and out the books; yes, that’s what they get paid for. Librarians deciding what your children read and what is appropriate for them? No. You choose that; we determine that for our children.
Yes, of course, librarians are a minor example, but it’s that very same idea that has to be fought against. That we and ours should have to live as they tell us. Nope – we get to tell them; that’s what the American experiment is about.